Denmark

In Denmark cannabis is governed by the Narcotics laws and the Criminal justice law, the first lists a number of substances in the categories A, B, C, D and E.
Cannabis is listed in Category A, of substances whose presence is not permitted in Denmark.
The Danish drug laws prohibits all activities of substances listed in Category A;- import, export, trade, transport, receipt, production and possession of these substances, unless they are used medicinally or in research.

Violation of drug laws is punishable by fine or imprisonment. In particularly in serious cases, the imprisonment can be up to 16 years. The penalty for breaking the law depends on the individual case, including drug type and quantity. Possession of larger amounts of material for resale will typically provide prison sentences. Even if a small amount of material is deemed 'possession for personal consumption' the citizen will get a fine, especially if it is his or her first time - but every possession is illegal, even in the case of small amounts, and hence subject to punishment.

The drug laws are broken down into several sections. They consist of:
- Law on Narcotics, which is the law that prohibits a number of substances, to be used for other than medical and scientific purposes
- Notice on euphoric substances, containing the lists of substances that fall under the drug laws.
- Penal Code § 191, which has provisions for serious drug offenses.

The notice on euforic substances, include lists of specific substances covered by the Act:
List A includes substances which may not be present in Denmark (cannabis, cat, heroin, opium, LSD).

(1 Cannabis (meaning all above-ground parts of the plant of the genus Cannabis, from which the resin has not been removed. Excluded are fruits of hemp (hemp) and hemp fibre in the isolated form.)
The maximum penalty for violation of the Law on Narcotics goes up to 2 years, while serious drug crimes, sentenced under the Criminal Justice Act carries sentencies with a maximum of up to 16 years imprisonment.

The basis of the Danish legislation is that Denmark has joined the three UN conventions regulating the area internationally:
-The common drug convention, the Single Convention (1961) to restrict the use of "traditional" drugs (opium, cannabis, coca) for medical and scientific purposes.
-The Psychotropic Convention (1971) which deals with the control of other psychoactive substances (stimulants, hallucinogens, sleeping and sedatives).
-The Convention against illicit handling of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (1988) in regard to international cooperation and action against illegal production, trafficking and money profits from the illegal market.
- The Health authorities in Denmark has made a number compassionate user-permits for Marinol ® (dronabinol - capsules) and Nabilone (Nabilone - capsules).

Denmark can provide compassionate user-permits, to individual patients with a time restriction covering either 3 months or 1 year, and general disclosure permits (hospitals and specialists (neurologists)), which are provided with 5 year limits. A compassionate permit, can be given, respectively, in patients with cancer or MS.

Furthermore, it is possible to apply for a 'Human single compassionate permit', for the use of substances otherwise not recognized and marketed in Denmark, here it is the doctor who must apply for it, and it will need to be imported by a pharmacy. To date, ​​one (1) application have been made for this (for products from Bedrocan BV - The Netherlands), the outcome is still unknown.

Denmark runs a zero tolerance policy, and the authorities are aggressively hunting for citizens with as little as 0.1 grams of cannabis on them, which is punishable by fines and for repeat offenders, possibly prison sentences. No distinction is made between recreational and medicinal use. Prepared raids and harassment of the citizens, are commonplace in areas, where cannabis is usually offered for sale, and the politicians and the police have stated that they will continue to run their hard line, which is to harass and intimidate citizens into leaving cannabis alone.
Thousand of Danish citizens have lost their driving license for no other reason than that they tested positive for THC regardless of amount. The license may for that reason be lost, even if the citizen was not sitting behind the wheel when he was caught.

There is hundreds, maybe thousands of patients in Denmark using cannabis as their medicine of choice, but this is ignored and silenced. (this last sentence may be irrelevant, in which case, please do leave it out)